Thomas Smithwick GETTYS, Congress, SC (1912-2003)
GETTYS, Thomas Smithwick, a Representative from South Carolina; born in Rock Hill, York County, S.C. June 19, 1912; educated in the Rock Hill public schools; attended Clemson College; Erskine College, A.B., 1933; graduate work at Duke University and Winthrop College; United States Navy, 1942-1946; teacher; school administrator, Central School, 1935-1941; staff for United States Representative James P. Richards, 1942-1951; postmaster, Rock Hill, S.C., 1951-1954; lawyer, private practice; past member and chairman of the board of trustees of Rock Hill School District Three, 1953-1960; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-eighth and to the Eighty-ninth Congress by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative Robert W. Hemphill, and reelected to the four succeeding Congresses (November 3, 1964-December 31, 1974); resigned on December 31, 1974 ; was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-fourth Congress in 1974; died on June 8, 2003, in Rock Hill, S.C.; interment in Neelyâs Creek Associate Reformed Church Cemetery, Rock Hill, S.C.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
